What-Christmas-character-am-I

=What <> Character Am I?= by Gerry De Ocampo

Purpose
To encourage people in a group to meet new people, stimulate conversation, and provide humor to informal social gatherings like parties or club meetings. Can easily be adapted for classroom use with children. For variation, <> can be substituted with other things like movies, e.g. "What Star Wars character am I?"

Time Required
Depending on the number of people playing the game, this activity should take anywhere from 15 - 30 minutes.

Number of Participants
Minimum = 2 participants Maximum = perhaps 40 participants, no real maximum Optimal = 15 - 25 participants

Supplies Needed

 * Small rectangular strips of paper
 * Pen or marker
 * Scotch tape

Preparation

 * 1) Decide what basis for character name selection, i.e. in this activity, the character names are Christmas-based, like the Grinch, Rudolph, Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus, etc.
 * 2) Write one character name on one side of the strip of paper without letting the participants see the names.
 * 3) The facilitator tapes one paper strip onto the back of each participant so that the character name is facing out and visible to all other participants.

Introduction
Good evening, everybody. Thanks for coming to our holiday party. We're going to play a "meet and greet" game now. Each of us has a strip of paper taped to our backs that we can't see, and there is the name of a Christmas character written on that paper. Your job is to guess the name of the character written on the paper. The way you'll do that, is you will visit with people, and you can ask one "yes or no" question about the character. The people you ask may only answer you with a "yes" or a "no." If you think you have enough information to guess the name of the character, you may ask "Am I (name of character)?". The person you ask will tell you whether you have guessed correctly.

Process

 * 1) The facilitator prepares for the activity by following the Preparation steps listed above.
 * 2) One of the group participants also tapes one of the paper strips to the facilitator's back.
 * 3) The facilitator announces the activity by reading the Introduction above to the group.
 * 4) Once the activity begins, the participants and the facilitator walk around asking other participants "yes or no" questions, trying to guess the name of the character on the paper.
 * 5) The activity ends when everyone has guessed their character's name, or when the host/hostess/facilitator decides to end the activity.

Debrief

 * 1) Would anyone like to share their reaction to discovering their character's name?
 * 2) Did you learn anything interesting or funny about the people you met tonight?
 * 3) Did you find that you had something in common with your character?

Credits
This activity was adapted from an activity I've played during a Christmas party at the house of a friend of my wife. I don't know whether it was her original activity or whether she copied it from somewhere else.